Many industries use cleaning machines to clean a wide variety of surfaces. The sophistication of cleaning machines has evolved at a rapid pace over time. An older form of cleaning machine is the basic mop-and-bucket device, which still has viability in some contexts. However, such a device is labor-intensive and time consuming. Further, dirt cleaned from a surface accumulates in the bucket, rendering the mop-and-bucket device inefficient.
The next iteration of cleaning machine is the manually-propelled cleaning machine. This type of cleaning machine has an unspent treatment fluid reservoir and a spent treatment fluid reservoir, which solves the mop-and-bucket's problem of accumulated dirt. Also, a manually-propelled cleaning machine combines many aspects of cleaning a floor such that a user may clean a floor as he or she propels the cleaning machine forward. Thus, the manually-propelled cleaning machine is not as labor-intensive as the mop-and-bucket device. Yet, the user of a manually-propelled cleaning machine is still exerting effort to move the machine around.
Finally, the latest class of cleaning machine is the self-propelled cleaning machine, which can either be walk-behind or ride-on. The self-propulsion aspect of this type of cleaning machine offers an improvement over the more labor-intensive, manually-propelled type of cleaning machine. As a result, a self-propelled cleaning machine may clean larger surface areas more quickly.
A common component of the manually-propelled and self-propelled cleaning machines is the vacuum squeegee. The vacuum-enabled squeegee collects the spent treatment fluid and particulate matter on the floor and places them into a spent treatment fluid reservoir. The vacuum squeegee is usually affixed behind the cleaning machine such that it is the last component of the machine that contacts the surface. Usually, the vacuum squeegee is interconnected to a vacuum pump or fan in order to provide the suction necessary to remove spent treatment fluid and particulate matter off of the floor and into the spent treatment fluid reservoir.
One issue with vacuum squeegees is that they are somewhat delicate. For example, some vacuum squeegees may be damaged if the cleaning machine travels in reverse. To this point, U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,335 to Brown et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a hydraulic system which raises and lowers a vacuum squeegee. The hydraulic system will automatically raise the vacuum squeegee if the cleaning machine is traveling in reverse and lower the vacuum squeegee if the cleaning machine is traveling forward.
In a similar vein, vacuum squeegees may also be damaged by obstacles on the cleaning machine's path. A modern solution to this issue is to interconnect the vacuum squeegee to a lift device which raises and lowers the vacuum squeegee on the user's command. U.S. Pat. No. 7,448,114 to Basham et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, utilizes a lift device which comprises a lift cylinder, a pivot arm, and a cable. The lift cylinder actuates the pivot arm which is connected to the cable such that the cable raises and lowers the vacuum squeegee on the user's command.
A further issue with vacuum squeegees is performance-related. Namely, a squeegee which is in a fixed position against the floor, or even one that simply raises up and down, will miss collecting spent fluid and particulate matter when making a tight turn.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,533,435 to Pedlar et al., which is hereby incorporated by references in its entirety, discloses a device which allows a vacuum squeegee to swing out to either side of the cleaning machine as it cleaning machine executes a turn. The vacuum squeegee is interconnected to a linkage arm which is interconnected to the main body of the cleaning machine at a single point. Further, the vacuum squeegee is selectively interconnected to a roller track which allows the vacuum squeegee to swing to either side of the cleaning machine, pivoting in an arc about the point where the linkage arm interconnects to the main body of cleaning machine. When the cleaning machine turns, the friction between the vacuum squeegee and the floor pulls the vacuum squeegee to the side of the cleaning machine, and the vacuum squeegee collects more spent treatment fluid and particulate matter. However, this particular vacuum squeegee is located underneath the cleaning machine, not trailing behind. Thus, the raising and lifting capability of this particular invention is limited.
Beyond, the aforementioned references, cleaning machines still retain a litany of deficiencies. For example, some cleaning machines have a vacuum squeegee which is able to swing to either side of the cleaning machine as well a lift capability to raise and lower the vacuum squeegee. However, the squeegee must be directly behind the cleaning machine before it may be raised off of the floor. This deficiency prevents the cleaning machine from avoiding obstacles while making turns with the vacuum squeegee swung out to either side of the cleaning machine.